Israeli court frees corruption suspects

JERUSALEM — An Israeli court on Monday released four of seven suspects held in a high-profile corruption case involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s inner circle, amid an uproar over a judge apparently discussing their detention with an investigator in private.

Israeli media reported late Sunday that Tel Aviv Magistrate Court Judge Ronit Poznanski-Katz and securities investigator Eran Shaham-Shavit exchanged text messages discussing extending the detention of several suspects in the investigation involving Israel’s telecom giant Bezeq and the close confidants of Netanyahu. Poznanski-Katz was removed from the case after critics decried the exchange as an obstruction of justice, and Netanyahu backers pounced on it as part of their claim that the authorities were out to get the long-time premier.

Last week police arrested seven suspects for their alleged involvement in the promotion of regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel’s Bezeq telecom company in return for Bezeq’s popular news site, Walla, allegedly providing favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his family.

Former Netanyahu media adviser Nir Hefetz and Shlomo Filber, the former director of the Communications Ministry under Netanyahu, were arrested, as well as Bezeq boss Shaul Elovitch, his son and his wife and two top Bezeq executives. Hefetz, Filber and Elovitch remain in custody.

Filber, one of the closest people to Netanyahu, has reportedly turned state witness and will incriminate Netanyahu in the affair.